More Research and Resources

Binge Drinking in Adolescence May Cause Long-term Problems

Binge drinking during adolescence can lead to problems with
executive functioning and behavioral control in adulthood, according to a new
animal study
conducted by researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina. The study
found that animals that were exposed to alcohol had behavior issues and
experienced other changes to their brains. The study is published in the
February 2015 issue of NIAAA Spectrum.
A summary of the study findings is available online.

Female Juvenile Offenders May Use Alcohol to Cope With Sexual Coercion

The study “Predictors of Sexual Coercion
and Alcohol Use Among Female Juvenile Offenders” found that young
offenders ages 14 to 17 who experienced sexual coercion were more
likely to increase their drinking behavior. An increase in alcohol use also was
associated with the risk of repeated sexual coercion. According to the study’s
authors, these young women may have used alcohol to help cope with feelings of
victimization. The findings point to the importance of intervening early with
this high-risk group of young women.

The study is published in the January 2015 issue of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. The
study received support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

This new
study examined the link between high school drinking behaviors and the risk
of problem drinking in college. A group of 430 first- and second-year college
students who violated their schools’ alcohol policies were required to
participate in a harm-reduction program. In an electronic survey, those
students were asked about their drinking behaviors during high school and
college. Students were grouped into low-, moderate-, or high-risk groups based
on their high school drinking behaviors. The higher the risk group, the greater
the likelihood that those students would experience an alcohol-related blackout
in college. The findings from this study can be used to target and intervene
with high-risk high school students.

A new study, Substance Use and Violence Among Youth: A Daily Calendar Analysis, uses data from
emergency department patients ages 14–24 to determine how substance use
contributes to violence among youth. Study findings show differences in violence
trends among males and females. Violence over personal belongings was more
common among males, whereas violence caused by rumors and jealousy was more
common among females. For both males and females, aggression was more likely to
be reported on days when youth used alcohol.

The study was published in the February 2015 issue of the Journal of Substance Use and Misuse. The
research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Partnership Is the Basis of the Prevention Trial in the Cherokee Nation

In the United States, youth living in underserved Native
American and rural communities are especially at risk for problems with
underage drinking. The Prevention
Trial in the Cherokee Nation is “a partnership between prevention
scientists and Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health to create, implement, and evaluate a new, integrated,
community-level intervention designed to prevent underage drinking.”

This article, published in the February 2015 issue of Prevention Science, describes the
strong partnership between prevention scientists and behavioral health leaders
within the Cherokee Nation, as well as the intervention and research design of
this new community trial. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism supported this research.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released an updated Community Health Status
Indicators (CHSI)online
tool that produces public health profiles for all 3,143 counties in the United
States. Each profile includes key indicators of health outcomes, which
describes the population health status of a county and factors that have the
potential to influence health outcomes, such as health care access and quality,
health behaviors, social factors, and the physical environment. Binge drinking, as reported by individuals ages 18 and older, is one of the factors affecting health outcomes.

In this new version of CHSI, all
indicators are benchmarked against those of peer counties, the median of all
U.S. counties, and Healthy People 2020 targets. Organizations conducting
community health assessments can use CHSI data to:

Assess
community health status and identify disparities;

Promote
a shared understanding of the wide range of factors that can influence
health; and

Mobilize
multisector partnerships to work together to improve population health.

March 24 Webinar on Faith-Based Support of Families Affected by Addiction

“Sensitizing the Congregation,” a
free webinar on March 24, at 2:00 p.m. EST, explores how local congregational
leaders can equip their faith groups to effectively acknowledge, address, and
embrace families captured by the addictive process. Participants will be
challenged to “look with new eyes” on congregational families, noticing signs
of substance use disorders. They will be equipped to research their surrounding
communities to find healing and protective resources for children at risk.
Faith leaders will be given resources that help congregations become a
welcoming place for affected families. The webinar will suggest strategies for
building resources within the congregational membership to strengthen the resilience
of children in alcoholic families. According
to the National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, children of alcoholics are about four times more
likely than the general population to develop alcohol problems.

Registration
for the webinar is free. This webinar is
the second of a
nine-part series from the National Association for Children of Alcoholics about
addiction, its impact on families and children, and community-based solutions.
The series is supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration.

On March 11, 2015, at 11:00 a.m. EDT, the Illinois Higher
Education Center for Alcohol, Other Drug, and Violence Prevention will host a
webinar on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s
(SAMHSA) Current and Future Direction for Prevention in Higher Education. Richard
Lucey, Jr., Special Assistant to the Director of SAMHSA’s Center for Substance
Abuse Prevention, will present an overview of SAMHSA’s revised strategic
initiative on the prevention of substance abuse and mental illness, including
its areas of focus on institutions of higher education. Mr. Lucey also will present current data from
national surveys on substance abuse and mental illness among college students
and introduce SAMHSA’s new Behavioral
Health Among College Students Information and Resource Kit. Registration is
free.

UNITY (United National
Indian Tribal Youth), in collaboration with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, will host the Today’s Native
Leaders Community Service Academy on April 10–12, 2015, in Rapid City, SD.
This free event will provide as many as 100 tribal youth with leadership
training on designing youth-led community service projects, creating a UNITY
youth council, engaging in action planning and event promotion, and more.
Trained youth will have the opportunity to present at the annual national UNITY
conference in Washington, DC, in the summer of 2015.

E-mail or call Lynnann Yazzie at
480–718–9793 to register or for more information.

The 124 students who participated in the
study also had lower intentions of engaging in heavy drinking when the social
consequences of not drinking were framed as a gain. These findings were
stronger among young people who reported higher levels of previous drinking. The
researchers suggest that interventions that focus on the negative social
consequences of heavy drinking and the positive benefits of not drinking
heavily might strengthen interventions that emphasize negative health
consequences.

This study is published in the February
2015 issue of British Journal of Health Psychology.
The National Cancer Institute supported this
research.

Substance abuse treatment programs are more successful when an
individual recognizes the problem, has a desire to receive help, and is ready
to be in treatment. Adolescents need programs that facilitate these elements.

A new
study assessed the effectiveness of the Treatment Readiness and Induction
Program (TRIP) to motivate adolescents to seek treatment. Five hundred and
nineteen adolescents from six residential programs completed assessments at
treatment intake and again 35 days after admission. Adolescents who received
TRIP showed greater gains in problem recognition compared with those who received
standard practice only.

This study is published in the March 2015 issue of the Journal
of Substance Abuse Treatment. The National Institutes of
Health supported this research.

The Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center (UDETC)has released its Resource Alert for the
month of February. These short reports provide summaries and references to the
most up-to-date research findings and other helpful information on enforcing
underage drinking laws in the community. Feature articles for the February
issue include “Making the Case for Greater Investment in Prevention” and an effort
in Contra Costa to place stricter limits on alcopops. The issue also reviews
2013 data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on fatalities
from alcohol-related crashes and a legal case in Georgia dealing with police
efforts to identify and convict underage drinkers.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center currently has six free online courses available that focus on best practices and strategies to enforce underage drinking laws and prevent underage drinking. These courses are:

Conducting Compliance Check Operations;

Environmental Strategies;

Party Prevention and Controlled Party Dispersal;

Techniques for Managing Special Events;

Source Investigations; and

Using Community Volunteers to Support Prevention and Enforcement of Underage Drinking.

More than one in four survey respondents were involved in at least one alcohol-related fight or injury during the previous year. Heavy episodic drinkers were more than six times as likely to experience alcohol-related consequences. Eight alcohol brands were significantly associated with alcohol-related fights and injuries.

This study is published in the January 2015 issue of Substance Use and Misuse. It received grant funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Work stress is not just an issue
for adults. A new study of high school seniors explored the relationship between work stress,
such as job satisfaction and perceived safety, and alcohol use and drunkenness.
The study also looked at the effects of peer influence and academic aspiration on
alcohol use.

The study, which included about
12,000 12th graders, found that work stress, peer influence, and academic
aspiration all influenced adolescents’ alcohol use. High school students who
experienced stress at work were more likely to use alcohol and get drunk. Positive
peer influences helped to buffer the effect of work stress on alcohol use,
while negative peer influences contributed to alcohol use. Students with academic aspirations were less likely to use alcohol
and get drunk.

This study is published in the
December 2014 issue of the Journal of BMC
Public Health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National
Institute on Drug Abuse supported this research.

The friendships that adolescents develop
with their peers can influence their drinking behaviors. New research looked at the connections between friendships, popularity,
and drinking behaviors among high school adolescents at five schools in Los
Angeles, California. The large study, of 1,707 students, examined the
relationship between adolescents’ drinking behaviors and their friends’
drinking behaviors. Adolescents were more likely to drink if they had friends who
drank or if they had close friends who were perceived as popular who drank. This
study is published in the January 2015 issue of the Journal of Social Science and Medicine. The National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism supported this research.

Energy drinks, which contain high levels of caffeine, have
become popular mixers with alcohol. This combination is frequently consumed by
underage drinkers, who are already vulnerable to the hazards of alcohol use. A new study, which
explored the risks of this popular new combination, found that those who drank
alcohol mixed with energy drinks were more likely to binge drink and were at
higher risk for alcohol dependence compared with people who drank alcohol only.
The combination of alcohol mixed with energy drinks also appeared to enhance
the experience of drinking alcohol. People who drank alcohol with energy drinks
had a stronger desire to drink more alcohol than those who drank alcohol alone.

The study, “Can Energy
Drinks Increase the Desire for More Alcohol?,” was supported by the National Institute
on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute of General Medical
Sciences. It is published in the January 2015 issue of Advances in Nutrition.

The
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is hosting a
webinaron January 23, 2:00 to
3:00 p.m. ET, to kick off its new Center of Excellence (CoE) on Behavioral
Health for Racial/Ethnic Minority Young Men Who Have Sex with Men (YMSM) and
other Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) populations (YMSM+LGBT
CoE). The Center is part of the SAMHSA Addiction Technology Transfer Center network.Registeronline for the free event.

LGBT
individuals are at higher risk of alcohol and other drug abuse. Top Health Issues for
LGBT Populations and Information Resource Kit, from SAMHSA, presents
scientific findings on specific health issues facing LGBT populations. The kit
contains information on LGBT terminology and gender identity, a guide to web-based
resources, and a PowerPoint presentation that can be used to explain LGBT
health issues to a variety of audiences.

A study of alcohol
preventive interventions implemented during early adolescence found that
such programs can potentially lower rates of alcohol use and related problems
into young adulthood. In this study, the participants were ages 10–14. One group of
participants engaged in the Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and
Youth, which focused on reducing youth substance misuse and improving parental
skills. This group also received LifeSkills Training to promote skills and
knowledge to avoid substance misuse. The second group of participants received LifeSkills
Training only. A third control group did not participate in the program
or the training. The students and their families from rural Iowa participated in the study
during the fall and spring of the 7th grade and again every fall of the 8th through
12th grade. This study is published in the December 2014 issue
of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The National
Institute on Drug Abuse supported this research.

A recent
study tested the effects of Communities That Care (CTC), a community-based
system to prevent adolescent problem behaviors. Approximately 4,400 public
school students from 24 small towns in seven states participated in the study
and completed surveys, as they went from the 5th to the 12th grade. The
students were randomly assigned to either the CTC intervention group or a group
that did not receive the intervention. The study found that when students
reached the spring of their 12th-grade year, students who received the CTC
intervention were 30 percent more likely to have never used any substance,
including alcohol, over the last 8 years, compared with students who did not
receive the CTC intervention.

A summary of the study can be found
on the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) website’s NIDA
Notes. NIDA supported this research.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) invites local
organizations to participate in the fifth annual National
Drug Facts Week (NDFW), a health observance that provides teens with an opportunity
to learn the facts about drugs and addiction from scientists and other experts.
NDFW will take place from January 26 through February 1, 2015.

Plan Your Event—Five Steps to
Hosting an NDFW Eventoutlines the basics of holding a
successful event. NIDA staff is available to help event hosts order
science-based materials to complement their event, brainstorm activity ideas,
and partner with other organizations. For national recognition, organizations
can enter their events in NIDA’s interactive online
map. During past observances, events
have been held by a variety of organizations, including middle and high
schools, local nonprofits, state and local health departments, faith-based
organizations, and afterschool clubs.

Join Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) subject-matter experts
and other public health professionals on Tuesday, January 13, from 2:00 to 3:00
p.m. ET for a town hall teleconference on Alcohol
Poisoning Deaths: A Deadly Consequence of Binge Drinking. According to the CDC, about 2,200 individuals
die from alcohol poisoning in the United States each year. To participate in
the teleconference, call 1-800-857-0764, passcode 7954413. The CDC Office for
State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support is hosting this event.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is inviting local
organizations to participate in the 5th annual National Drug Facts
Week, a weeklong health observance that provides teens with an opportunity
to learn the facts about drugs and addiction from scientists and other experts.
National Drug Facts Week will take place during the week of January 26–February
1, 2015.

Plan Your Event—Five Steps to
Hostingoutlines the basics of hosting a successful event. NIDA
staff is available to help event hosts order science-based materials to
complement their event, brainstorm activity ideas, and partner with other organizations.
For national recognition, organizations can enter their events in NIDA’s
interactive online
map. Past events have been held by a variety of organizations, including middle and high schools, local nonprofits, state and local health departments, faith-based organizations, and after-school clubs.

On January 30, 2015, the National
Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will host its annual Drug Facts Chat Day. During
this live, online chat, high school students can ask scientists from the
National Institutes of Health about the effects of alcohol and other drugs,
addiction, and how to help friends or family address issues related to
substance use. Drug Facts Chat Day, part of National Drug Facts
Week, can be viewed live.

A new study explored the link between the
conditions of attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder (CD) and the use of tobacco and alcohol among
young adolescents. The study included 2,517 youth ages 12–15 years old, using a
representative sample of the U.S. population from the 2000–2004 National Health
and Nutrition Examination Survey.

ADHD and CD diagnoses and symptoms are linked to a higher risk for
alcohol use among young adolescents. Among study participants, adolescents with ADHD and CD were three to
five times more likely to use alcohol, and to have started alcohol use at a
younger age, than adolescents who did not have ADHD and CD.

This study is published in the
December 2014 issue of Drug and Alcohol
Dependence. The National Institutes of Health supported this research.

Brief Motivational Intervention Reduces Alcohol Use by College Freshmen

Heavy drinking among first-year college students
can lead to range of problems including illness, high-risk behaviors, arrests,
and mortality. This new study
compared the effectiveness of a brief motivational intervention (MI) between
two groups of freshman college students. The first group of heavy-drinking
students was required to participate in the MI, while the second group
volunteered. The MI was conducted by an advanced practice nurse.

A total of 900 students participated in the study,
with 190 freshmen required to participate and 710 volunteers, to compare the
students’ readiness to change their drinking behaviors. Across both groups,
alcohol use and consequences went down during the 12 months of the study. These
findings highlight the importance of MI, conducted by advance practice nurses,
as an intervention with college students.

The study is published online in the November 2014
issue of Nursing Outlook. The
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration supported this
research.

The
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is revitalizing its Strategic Plan for 2016–2020, which NIDA will use
as a guiding framework for supporting new research during the next 5 years. Since
the current NIDA
Strategic Plan was published in 2010, many major
advances have been made in the science of drug abuse and addiction. An updated
strategic plan will allow NIDA to harness the latest research technologies and
apply them to the ever-changing substance abuse landscape.

NIDA
seeks input on research priorities from researchers
in academia and industry, health care professionals, patient advocates and
advocacy organizations, scientific or professional organizations, federal
agencies, and other interested members of the public. To provide input, please
send an e-mail to NIDAOSPCPlanning@mail.nih.govby January 30, 2015.

State highway officials are warning drivers to stay off the roads if they’ve
been drinking this holiday season. More than 800 people in the United States
die in drunk-driving crashes each December, making this month a risky time to
be on the road. Teens are especially at risk for alcohol-related crashes, even
though they are younger than the minimum legal drinking age in all states. According to the
National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA), 28 percent of 15- to 20-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2012 had been
drinking.

NHTSA’s annual Drive Sober or Get Pulled
Over campaign, held from December 12 through January
1, seeks to remind people of the dangers of drinking and driving, reduce the
number of fatal crashes, and create safer roads.

Every 52 minutes in America,
someone dies in an alcohol-related driving crash. For every preventable death—10,076
in 2013 alone—exponentially more lives are forever changed by the loss of a
parent, child, friend, or loved one. On December 30, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. ET,
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will hold a Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving Twitter Chat
during which participants can question experts, spread the word to followers,
and encourage others to take
the pledge not to drive while buzzed. Use hashtag #buzzedriving to join in the conversation; mention @NHTSAGov
in a tweeted question or comment and NHTSA will try to respond. NHTSA also is offering videos,
banners, and other tools to help spread this lifesaving message.

According to NHTSA, teens
are at far greater risk of death in an alcohol-related crash than the overall
population, even though they are below the minimum legal drinking age in every state.
Among 16- to 20-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2012, nearly
one out of five has a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or higher.

During
the sessions, a facilitator asked open-ended questions that led group members to
increase their talk about changing alcohol and drug use behavior. A 3-month
follow-up found that group change talk helped participants reduce alcohol
intentions, alcohol use, and heavy drinking. Change talk positively affected individual
outcomes across the entire group. The group facilitator was an important part
of this process.

This study is published in the November 2014 issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology. The National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute
on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism supported this research.

More than 14,000 youth living in 28 communities in the rural United
States completed a survey about friendships at five points during the 4-year study.
Mixed-sex friendship groups in early adolescence were more likely to have low
socioeconomic status, single-parent homes, poor family relations, no religious
attendance, and poor performance in school. These factors are related to
substance use and delinquency.

This study is published in the November 2014
issue of Developmental Psychology. The National Institute on Drug Abuse and the
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism supported this research.

The study included a school-based randomized, controlled trial of 514 high school students, predominantly minority, who reported using substances and perpetrating
aggression. Adolescents who received GSC intervention were compared with
adolescents who received standard care including education, assessment, and
referral only. Those adolescents who received GSC demonstrated significantly fewer
alcohol use days, fewer drug use days, and less aggressive behavior than
adolescents who received standard care, suggesting that GSC holds promise as an
intervention for schools.

The study is published in the December 2014 issue of
the Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
supported this research.

Men responded differently from women in the study. Women
with low levels of depression at baseline reduced their drinking after a BMI,
while women with high levels of depression did not drink less after a BMI. In
contrast, men with low levels of depression did not reduce their drinking after
a BMI, while men with high levels of depression at baseline significantly reduced
their weekly drinking after a BMI. The findings indicate that BMIs are most
effective for heavy driving, depressed men.

This study is published in the December
2014 issue of the Journal of Consulting
and Clinical Psychology. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism supported this research.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) has released Leading Change: A Plan for SAMHSA's Roles and Actions 2011–2014:
Accomplishments Report. This publication summarizes
agency progress in achieving the behavioral health goals it set for itself for
this 3-year period. SAMHSA’s Strategic Initiative 1 is the prevention of
substance abuse and mental illness. Various efforts, such as its “Talk. They Hear You.” national media campaign
and 2012 and 2014 Town Hall
Meetings to prevent underage drinking, enabled SAMHSA to meet
the measure of reducing the percentage of young people ages 12 to 20 reporting
past 30-day substance abuse, including alcohol use.

On December 16, 2014, the National
Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) released findings from the 2014 Monitoring the
Future survey. The report captures results about alcohol and other drug use and
attitudes among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in the United States.

Results from
this year’s survey indicate continuing decreases among all grades in current
and binge drinking as well as in heavy drinking by 12th graders. According to Lloyd Johnston, the
study's principal investigator, 41 percent of teens reported any alcohol use,
which is a nearly a full third less than the peak rate of 61 percent reporting
alcohol use in 1997. Possible factors contributing to the decreases are an
increase in peer disapproval of binge drinking and a decrease in the percentage
of youth who report that alcohol is easy to obtain.